On the bus #22 SanAntonio to Fort Worth 5/15

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OK, now what!?

The TE Train 21(20) has not moved at all in the pas several hours. More motive power issues? They don't show it as service disruption - yet. It has arrival times predicted all the way out to SAS (4+ hours late), but it still hasn't made it to Marshal yet, and its speed is shown as a rock-steady "0" mph.

Oh wait. Clicking on LVW shows that it had arrived at 1617 (7hr 59 min late), and it's scheduled to be in MIN at 1707 (currently it's 1904 here), so I guess that it made it only a little further than Marshal.

Not a good omen.
 
Posted by a passenger on the train to another list ... train hit a tree or large branch outside Marshall and was damaged. Made it to Marshall but first told they were waiting for a UP engine now not sure what they are waiting on.
 
Wanderin' Bill said:
Posted by a passenger on the train to another list ... train hit a tree or large branch outside Marshall and was damaged. Made it to Marshall but first told they were waiting for a UP engine now not sure what they are waiting on.
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Howdy Wanderin' Bill,

Do you mind if I ask which other forum that was posted to? This one was the only one I was aware of until someone mentioned another one (trainorders) that a guest poster drops in from. I have used my Google-Fu to try and find other forums, but I wasn't very successful. I may have to bookmark your source and lurk there too!
 
There is a Yahoo group called All_Aboard. Some pretty knowledgeable folks there and some who seem to have an inside contact at Amtrak. Generally friendly group but also a few who seem to have little hope for Amtrak.
 
Wanderin' Bill said:
There is a Yahoo group called All_Aboard. Some pretty knowledgeable folks there and some who seem to have an inside contact at Amtrak. Generally friendly group but also a few who seem to have little hope for Amtrak.
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Thanks. I'll try Yahoo and see if I can find it.

I noticed to that over on Trainorders.com Gene Poon posted an update too.
 
Well, it looks like they finally made it in this morning at almost 0700! They departed CBR (where we will be boarding on Monday) at 2347.

So, what do you do in a situation like that? We live about 35 miles away from the station - a 45 minute drive in each direction. Do you go home and try to track it and hope to be able to project an arrival time? Just sit and wait it out? Will they cal if they decide to "bustitute", and then you have to scurry to get to the train station on time?

Anyway, on the bright side, constantly checking the fares online paid off. I was able to fine a lower bucket rate (roomette) for our return leg, and called to change our reservation and have $126 refunded to our credit card! The customer service agent was a little skeptical at first, but then she saw what I was looking at and immediately made the change. I had to agree with her that it is very unusual for a lower-bucket fare to open up this close to departure. I guess that someone must have cancelled just this morning. A quick check not an hour later shows that the fare is back up to what I initially reserved at. I was tempted to take the e-voucher in case I needed to persuade the wife to give the train another try later this fall.

Has anyone heard what they eventually ended up doing to get Train 21 (20) to SAS? Use UP motive power or did they finally get the reserve P-42 fired up and rescue the train? Man, they surely can't be proud of this month's OTP, can they?
 
I don't know what engine 21 had last night, I was asleep, but train 22 went through Austin about 2:30 with locomotive 124.

Has anyone heard what they eventually ended up doing to get Train 21 (20) to SAS? Use UP motive power or did they finally get the reserve P-42 fired up and rescue the train? Man, they surely can't be proud of this month's OTP, can they?
 
They used a P-42 that was on the Heartland Flyer ( #822) which was shown as Service Disruption this morning!

If you noticed, # 22 is already 5+ Hours down after leaving Taylor, hasn't even made Temple yet! #21 is also late, just left Dallas 3 hours late heading for FTW!!

You'll know by the time #21/#421 gets to the DFW area what kind of OTP the Eagle is running on your day of departure! Of course you can check in Amtrak Status Maps, call Julie or Track a Train also!

If you ask for notifications from Amtrak they'll text or e- nail you notifications about your train! If it's going to be a Bustitution, which I doubt since the #421 cars have to be switched in SAS to #1, in the past they've skipped CBR and MGR and run buses from FTW to stops in TPL, TAY( if anyone is scheduled on/off)AUS,SMC and also Express buses from FTW to AUS and SAS!!

Hopefully you'll get to ride the Train the while way! Hacmve you thought about parking in Temple and riding from there? It's a Staffed Station with checked luggage!
 
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Yeah the Eagle's OTP is awful lately but I'm sure most of it's due to weather.

Here's a train that tried to go through the flooding. I think I'd rather take the bus in those circumstances, or if possible delay the trip till it dries out a bit.

When there's a delay (and I've waited through my share) I stay at the station. Mainly because home's a minimum 300 miles away. If the station is near town, I go walking around to see what's there, keeping my phone handy so I can keep checking the status on the app.

I got stuck at CBR a couple of years ago, didn't have the app, didn't have the strength to find downtown (looked to be at least 4 blocks away and I'd had surgery a week earlier, not fully healed). Should've brought my Kindle. It goes with me now!
 
jimhudson said:
They used a P-42 that was on the Heartland Flyer ( #822) which was shown as Service Disruption this morning!

That would be a good use of unused equipment. It looks like the Heartland Flyer has been in SD pretty much all week. That's a disappointment too.

If you noticed, # 22 is already 5+ Hours down after leaving Taylor, hasn't even made Temple yet! #21 is also late, just left Dallas 3 hours late heading for FTW!!

You'll know by the time #21/#421 gets to the DFW area what kind of OTP the Eagle is running on your day of departure! Of course you can check in Amtrak Status Maps, call Julie or Track a Train also!

Since CBR is the very next stop from FTW, I would have to check status of arrival to DAL in order to give us enough time to get to Cleburne, get parked and trackside. I plan to use the 800 number to check status once there - neither of us have a smart phone.

If you ask for notifications from Amtrak they'll text or e- nail you notifications about your train! If it's going to be a Bustitution, which I doubt since the #421 cars have to be switched in SAS to #1, in the past they've skipped CBR and MGR and run buses from FTW to stops in TPL, TAY( if anyone is scheduled on/off)AUS,SMC and also Express buses from FTW to AUS and SAS!!

I think that I have service notices selected to our cell phones. Don't they also have a spare set of one coach and one sleeper as protect in SAS? Because of that they don't necessarily have to get the 421 down there. Why would they skip CBR and MGR if they have scheduled (booked) passengers waiting there? If they forgot us we'd be pretty upset, to say the least.

Hopefully you'll get to ride the Train the while way! Hacmve you thought about parking in Temple and riding from there? It's a Staffed Station with checked luggage!

Well, Temple is almost 85 miles from my house. I really don't want to have to drive that far. The station at CBR is staffed by the local transportation (city bus - CleTran) employees usually until about 6 p.m. on weekdays. They also have plentiful and free parking. We are not bringing enough baggage to bother with checking. We will only have one rolling duffel to accompany our two (small) backpacks. We are not renting a car at our destination. The Hotel Congress is pretty much straight across the street from the station, and they now have their new street car in service. It also has a stop right out the main door of the hotel. We will be on foot for the two evenings we are in Tucson.

Not that I have anything against the station in Temple, though. We have visited in the past and it has a lot of interesting stuff to do during your wait.
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Hmmm, not looking good!

Record flooding on the Blanco River has I-35 closed down in both directions. I don't know if US-281 is also closed. It's hard to tell if the TE-22 (24) is affected as the eastbound SL-2(22?) is still about three hours out from SAS! The rain is tapering off here now, but more seems to be forming to the west of us. It's a good thing that our smoker is under cover. Our son is having a Memorial Day party at his place and wanted me to smoke some briskets for him today. Got them on at 0615 and have been monitoring the weather since then.....
 
Last night's historical flooding pushed the South Canadian River hard over its banks at Purcell last night, putting several feet of water over the BNSF Red Rock Sub, which sits in the flood plain. Normally rarely a problem but now a disaster. As a result, there will be no Heartland Flyer for at least a few days, let alone any freight service on a key line!
 
Severe weather and record flooding in Central Texas is occurring with more Rain predicted for the next week!

Today's Texas Trains aren't doing well!

#1 and #2 are both Very Late ( 4 hours) in West Texas between San Antonio and Del Rio and the #22 is shown as not leaving San Antonio yet!!!! And the Heartland Flyer, as OH said, is Canceled due to Flooding in OK and Texas! Today's #22 just left SAS 7 Hours Late!

Pretty severe flooding around San Marcos ( Blanco River) and San Antonio as was said!

Doesn't look good for the next few days, might be time for Plan B if you're traveling on Amtrak in Texas in the next few days!
 
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Yahoo! Vacation day is finally here.

But where, oh where has our little train gone? Oh where, oh where could it be? Looks like it has been sitting stopped just north of Queen City for over an hour now. Shows being about two hours late into CBR. Not a good start for a vacation. Hopefully not another locomotive issue (dead or tree strike). It took them forever to scramble the protect locomotive out of Ft. Worth earlier this week - or was it last week?
 
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To add to your problems, DryCreek, the SL 1 hasn't left NOL yet, due to the 6:30 hours late arrival of SL 2 last night/this morning. And that's your ride from SAS to TUS.

But on the bright side, you'll probably get to see the SA switching in daylight. :)
 
Grandpa D said:
To add to your problems, DryCreek, the SL 1 hasn't left NOL yet, due to the 6:30 hours late arrival of SL 2 last night/this morning. And that's your ride from SAS to TUS.

But on the bright side, you'll probably get to see the SA switching in daylight. :)
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To be honest, I'd find that pretty interesting!

Looks like they are rolling again. Left Marshal and now rolling along at a "brisk" 53 mph.

They sent me e text message indicating that our boarding time at CBR will now be at 1708. Due to the big line of severe weather moving into our area now, the wife has gotten antsy and decided that we should head on into Cleburne and have a nice, long lunch while waiting for the train.
 
Good plan DC, but realistically I'd look for #21/#421 into CBR more on the order of 6pm -7Pm!

This would mean y'all would have Dinner in the CCC before Temple! If you have a good SCA they might even have made a Rez for you!

Starting to Rain here in Austin but worst weather is moving from Fredriksburg NE towards the Metroplex!

As was said, #1 will be late out of NOL so you might get to see the switching in SAS in Daylight tomorrow!!

Keep us posted!
 
BNSF has temporarily reopened the Red Rock Sub and they are shoving as much freight through as they can. But at least through Norman speed is restricted to about 10 MPH and be certain Dispatchers are earning their pay and then some, especially since it is single track main. Obviously there will be no room for the Heartland Flyer.

But we are now coming under attack again and it will likely close later today as the South Canadian comes back up and over.
 
Well, still sitting here in CBR. 1803 and about 20 minutes more to go according to the website. Hate posting on a tablet.
 
DryCreek said:
Well, still sitting here in CBR. 1803 and about 20 minutes more to go according to the website. Hate posting on a tablet.
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At least you've got a train to look forward to. With no Heartland Flyer, I may start getting a little panicky knowing I'm cut off from the system :) Not that I need the train anytime soon; it's just the knowing it's not there :) :)
 
Received the Dreaded Robo call and e- mail from Amtrak! Tomorrows #22 and #21 will be Bustitutions in Texas between Temple and San Antonio!

Extremely heavy storms and rain, flooding, hail tornadoes all over tonight, Record floods in Austin!

Tonites #21 ( with AUs DC aboard)is still not to Temple and may be turned there? Last report was our of McGegor 4+ Hours down!

Our friend Greatcats is on the #21 out of Chicago today headed for Austin, will be bustiruted tomorrow but Amtrak says not sure if from FTW or TPL???

I was going to meet him in TPL on #22 and ride #21 back to Austin but Canceled and received e- voucher!

Today's #1 out of NOL is also late leaving Houston but its unknown if they'll use a spare sleeper and Coach in SAS for #421 or if the pax will be put on #1 on a Space available basis heading West?

Central, East and North Texas have a big mess and Communication is poor to non-existant! ( power outages and stuff washed away!)

Good luck to everyone!!!!! .
 
Where precisely is it flooding? It is probably easier to ask where it is not flooding. Unless you're in deep West Texas it's probably flooding. Texas has become saturated along with nearly everything immediately North and East of here.

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And what tales he will have to tell.......

Criminy! Over 8 hours late into Tucson this morning. Very tired, at hotel and will be catching up on sleep today. The trip report will be a disappointment for many folks - at least our outbound segment. I will say that we did find at least one employee of Amtrak that was helpful and in a bright mood despite the issues. Starr, our SCA from CBR to Temple (where we were thrown off the train to wait for buses - over 2-1/2 hours) was pleasant and helpful. The rest? well, lets just say that I am spending the tip money I saved on breakfast at the hotel restaurant this morning!
 
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